Seated in front of a Wagner flag and sipping from a mug of tea, he called his bitter enemy a scumbag. Shoigu was a craven PR man and oligarch who had never held a weapon in his life, he raged.
The defence ministry had duped Vladimir Putin into last year's fullscale invasion of Ukraine, Prigozhin added. The decision had nothing to do with "denazification" or "demilitarisation", or an imminent Nato attack on Russia - the official reasons for the war. It was all about Shoigu's wish for a second "hero of Russia" medal, he claimed.
Prigozhin's online rants against Russia's military leaders had been going on for months. He had previously accused Shoigu and the commander-in-chief, Valery Gerasimov, of depriving his Wagner troops of ammunition, of sacrificing Russian soldiers in disastrous missions - and of seizing eastern Ukraine to plunder it.
The feud dramatically escalated on 10 June when Shoigu announced that Wagner soldiers would have to sign contracts with his ministry of defence. In effect, Wagner would cease to exist. Seemingly, Putin endorsed the proposal. Prigozhin, once Putin's trusted ally, was at a personal crossroads. He might accept the Kremlin's decision. Or he could fight back.
The answer came on Friday evening when Prigozhin posted another provocative video on his Telegram social media channel. It showed the apparent aftermath of a missile strike on a leafy Wagner camp. The location was somewhere in occupied Donbas. A breathless soldier jogged past shredded trees and what looked like a body.
"Fuck! Oh fuck!," he said. Prigozhin claimed Russia's defence ministry had carried out the attack, causing "many victims." "According to eyewitnesses, the blow was struck from the rear," he wrote.
The video looked staged. But Prigozhin now had a rationale for launching the next part of an extraordinary and daring plan. Wagner was about to invade Russia.
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Bu hikaye The Guardian dergisinin June 26, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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